Self-study
There are far fewer independent bookstores than there were 20 years ago, largely because chain bookstores prospered and multiplied during that time. █████ █████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ █████
Summary
Having fewer independent bookstores has led to less variety in available books. Therefore, the fact that chain bookstores have replaced independent bookstores is bad for people who read books.
Notable Assumptions
The argument moves from a claim that there is less variety in books to a claim that this is bad for readers. It is therefore missing an assumption connecting these two points - something explaining why having less variety actually is worse for readers.
9.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ███████
a
Book consumers would ██ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ████ █ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ███
This fills the gap in the argument. If this were false, then the premise stating that there is less variety in available books wouldn’t do anything to support the conclusion that this trend is bad for book consumers.
b
Independent bookstores typically ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███████████
What kinds of books independent bookstores would sell isn’t relevant to the argument - the argument already states that there would be more variety if there were more independent book stores, and further details on what the two types of stores sell doesn’t add anything to that premise.
c
The average bookstore █████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ██ █████ ████
The size of the bookstores doesn’t matter, because the argument already states the important fact about the bookstores - that more independent bookstores would lead to more variety.
d
The average bookstore █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ██ █████ ████
The size of the bookstores doesn’t matter, because the argument already states the important fact about the bookstores - that more independent bookstores would lead to more variety.
e
Some book consumers █████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████████
If anything, this would hurt the argument. If book consumers valued low prices more, then the chain bookstores might actually be better for them even though there’s less selection, which would undermine the conclusion.